someone out there has probably been waiting a long time for a mixer like this today we've got
the Behringer flow 8 Bluetooth controlled personal mixer and interface and it's coming up next these
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the flow 8 was just announced by Behringer and they're pumped up about it. I've had this one for
a little while now so i could share it here with you obviously they sent it over to try out and
test this is not a paid review but you should know where the gear comes from and that i do appreciate
when any manufacturer is willing to provide gear that otherwise might not make it onto my radar
or onto the channel so the flow 8 is a mixer and an interface an 8 input mixer with 4 mic preamps
2 of which can provide phantom power and two of which provide combo jacks for quarter inch inputs
channels five six seven eight are quarter inch pairs and there's an additional stereo channel
where the USB or Bluetooth audio playback is routed the output side is equally sorted for such
a small mixer with two balanced XLR outputs two quarter inch tip ring sleeve outputs for monitor
one and two a headphone output with independent level control and the ability to act as a usb
audio interface for both computers and ios devices i think they probably could have included
a 8th inch or 3.5 millimeter headphone jack on a product like this and nobody would have been too
concerned about it but the quarter inch is easy enough to adapt for anybody that's just
working with more consumer grade headphones as an audio interface 10 channels are presented to the
computer each of the eight analog inputs as well as the left right mix conveniently that is tapped
off before the output level control for the mixer so you can still get a good healthy recording
even if you don't need so much of the level in the room for live reinforcement or going to a
speaker system or anything like that. I'm not sure we're at critical mass yet for where everybody has
enough usb-C host devices capable of powering a 2 amp draw like this one so hopefully we'll see some
movement on that in the future but right now the split approach even though people look at it I've
already seen people 'oh why didn't they do usb-C?' it works well for iOS and the kind of devices that
I currently have sitting around. Either way you lean on that argument this is an 8 channel mixer
and interface that runs quite happily on a USB battery providing phantom power to two channels
and being controlled remotely via Bluetooth all at the same time I'll have some more numbers and
hard data experiments and things in a future video for how long a typical battery will last
under those types of normal situations but I'd expect it to do quite well. The mixer so far
runs silent, as far as I can tell it only gets slightly warm after being on for a number of days
so this could be a very attractive option for a small video production studio or a location shoot.
The Bluetooth control aspect means you don't need to be right next to the mixer to make adjustments
but unlike other mixers we might be used to, you kind of have to use the app to get at all
the features. The approach they've taken here is to make features like EQ, High Pass Filter,
Compression and Panning only accessible from the control app, although this does limit what you can
control from the physical surface without the app I honestly can't imagine how they would have fit
controls for all this stuff into this footprint and if they hadn't done it through the screen it
wouldn't have been very good. I think they've made some smart choices of what to make based in the
app and what to include on the surface this mixer does seem to be aimed at users that aren't making
those adjustments constantly what they've focused on here is allowing you to make those adjustments
allowing you to store them and then giving you a whole bunch of options on recalling them
as snapshots either via the app or via a foot switch that you can plug in and that foot switch
can be set to either control the effects or recalling snapshots so there's a whole bunch
of stuff you can imagine this working for for a small act playing multiple instruments or any
number of other things and of course don't forget you do have the playback from a computer coming in
on this additional channel here so it's a really interesting segment of the market that they've
aimed this at for folks that might have a use for different presets and such a small footprint
The internal effects are quite well rounded with a bit of adjustment possible to fit your taste
on each one of them you can see the different banks of them here they are a lot of fun to
experiment with and like most built-in effects that I've come across being subtle with them
will get you really far there is a compressor on each of the input channels it's a one knob style
compressor and there's also a one knob limiter on the main and monitor outputs as well I kind of
worry that more harm will be done than good with these types of one knob uh dynamic processors but
I think overall it's better to have them and just not use them than to not have anything at all and
need some sort of dynamics. Again, subtlety will take you a long way using these just to round off
the rough edges the main and monitor outputs also feature a 9-band graphic equalizer that offers
some help taming feedback I'm sure and again is light years improved over typical small mixers
like this of the past that would have no output EQ at all you'd normally have to buy an output
EQ and patch to it before your speakers or device that you're playing back through
so that's nice that they've included it. 9 band is better than no bands so
great addition there the input EQ is a fixed four band style with a variable high pass
filter that goes quite high so it's a very comfortable range there for dealing with all
sorts of stuff with that high pass filter, snare drums, high hats you're going to want to get up
a little higher than you typically would for a vocal and they've given you plenty of range there.
Control from the app is possible in two ways over the EQ and the firmware updates so far have
been refining the experience and accuracy of the touch controls already of course you can rename
add icons and choose from presets for setting up channels and they've included an auto gain
function that allows you to set the inputs for one or all channels automatically with just a few
button pushes they're clearly looking to make this an easy experience for less advanced users and I
think for a podcast or small music act there could be a lot of potential here the ability to control
effects or recall scenes using a foot switch could really be useful to a lot of people and i could
see all sorts of small performances making use of some of these features and effects and simple
remote control scene changes the Bluetooth allowed me to get typical distance away from
the mixer it disconnects when i go upstairs in the house as pretty much all Bluetooth devices do
so no surprises there no miracles either a lot of what you think about this mixer and its abilities
will probably depend on whatever they choose to charge for it and at the time of filming this
i don't have a clue what that's going to be so we'll take another look at this one down
the road a bit after their shipping after they get out into the world and people get to really
use them and see how they do if you have any questions about them in the meantime though
definitely let me know in the comments thanks for watching hit DcSoundOp dot Com forward slash shop
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